California Channel Islands
The California Channel Islands (WIP) '' '' '' "GO HOME BARGI!"'' -Teal Vandal shouting a slur at a colonist Geography The Archipelago that makes up the islands can be divided into two main zones of control. First is the Northern chain that was up until the Great War a series of four parallel islands, it now exists as a super island that controls the regions governance and houses the only NCR sanctioned economic zone in the isles ran exclusively by naturalized citizens. Then there is the Southern chain, often called "The Lower 6" or the "Cartel Islands" it is made up of Barber, Santa Clarita, Nicksland, San Clemente, Cortez Island and Sharp-Stone isle. Its on these islands that the pirate rebellions against the NCR are the most common. SantaRosae is the largest of the islands and is considered the main interest of the moot of Dayglow and contains 81% of the projected wealth in the region in its untapped saltpeter, logging zones, natural gas and hunting byproducts. The rest is locked onto with the cartel privateers at Avalon on Santa Clarita making up most of the other 17% and the misc 2% in salvage on the unincorporated island of Nicksland and the wrecks about the region. The rest are no go zones due to the current war with the Urchin Pirates. History 2038- A hidden listening post is constructed by the coast guard on Santa Rosa, Code named "Last-Paradise". 2057- Legislation Passed by Congress, (Uranium Act) officially opens the channel islands to development to help in the war effort. 2068- Vault Tec Buys the islands of Annacapa, Santa Cruz and San Miguel and the majority of Santa Rosa, save the coastguard post. Large rail tubes are built between site 7 on Santa Cruz and site 2 on Santa Rosa where generation I vaults are started. 2071- A series of test towns using Vault Tec resources are built to be used as a testing ground and blueprint for future vault tec "cities of tomorrow". 2076- Vault Tec opens the corporate centers of "Hedgeford" a large port for workers and the scientists to reside at on island and "Circle Pines" a expirimental instant city kit to be built using volenteers from the public. These towns would be used as a alternative housing zones for room in one of the two test vaults on the islands of Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz. The test Vault 2 and 7 are used early on as areas for ballistic tests but are later refitted with equipment simuilar to that of Vault City and 22 focused mainly on genetic cloning and reserection techs using the islands large iceage digs as sample sizes for new speices of plants and animals. 2077- The Great War occurs. 2079- Several yachts and small cruise liners are wrecked on the sand barges and kays of the southern islands, resulting in pockets of tribals and ghouls on the lesser islands. 2085- The Sea level stabilizes and adds thousands of acres to the archipelago, mostly sand and dead coral. SantaRosae is formed as a super island and the "Hedgeford" port is now land locked. 2091- Cartel smugglers discover the wrecks in the southern islands and set up small scale salvage and enslavement camps along the coast and islands. 2121- Boneyard Scavengers enter a short 2 month war with the Cartels before creating the "salvage concordant" after losing 31 men and 4 ships, conceding the islands to the cartels. 2130s-Vault Dwellers of Vault 2 and 7 begin a exodus from the ruins of "Hedgeford" and "Circle Pines" into the highlands of Santa Rosae 2189-Dayglow and the Boneyard enter the confederacy at shaddy sands making the reconquest of SantaRosae one of the joining agreements. 2199- The cartel begins salvaging vault 2 accidentally releasing a strain of the BIG MT. spore virus and several animal clones associated to the vault project killing hundreds of scavengers in the process, quickly spreading across the whole island becoming a bio hazard for many months. 2205- The FEV spore groups stablize making the plains of SantaRoase into a jungle mire full of strange mutants. 2252- As a part of Wendel Petersons campaign bid for president, he promises land parcels to those who would recolonize the islands under the original draft of the Thaler Act along with the frontiers of Cascadia, the Mojave and Baja regions. 2263- 2 of the 3 original cartel clans sign a privateer agreement as a act of goodwill towards the colonists. 2268- The Almas Pilluelo's declare war aginst the other cartel clans and rejects the ncr colonization decree. 2270- The former drydock district of "Hedgeford" (renamed No-Water) is officially recognized as a major town in the day glow moot and its citizens are granted citizenship. 2270s-2280s- The bush wars of the urchins and tribals against the ncr continues into the foreseeable future. Important Locations On SantaRosae NCR Territory *No-Water, a large town on the southern tip of Santa Cruz that houses over 400 people and transients and acts as the regional hub for the islands. It lies in the ruined dry-docks of Hedgeford. Its main building is the sunken barge of the calypso where the towns mayor and regional governor live. In addition there are multiple old brick warehouses that have been semi converted into tenements and shops, boasting a large amount of fish mongers and a vet run clinic as well as a island famous restaurant known as "Just the Tip" known for serving the most exotic meat like that of the eliphantez to the daring travelers who stop by. Along with a few taverns like the "Wet One" the seedier of the two that only a few besides the natives are let in to, and the military ran canteen in the calypso called "Four Castle" besides that theres a general store that stocks imports from the Hub and Boneyard and a 12 foot wall made of tour buses, boat hulls and cargo containers that encircles the side of the town facing the Hedgeford ruins. *Scorpion Ranch, is an old world hiking spot known for its beauty, its here that the NCR mines salt peter deposits found in the cliff sides for export to the gun runner factories on the main land. There is also said to be a pride of cave lions here that has been known to kill miners that wander to far from camp. *Inspiration Point, is a old world lighthouse that at one point wasnt connected to the rest of the island making it ideal for warning of rock and cliff faces, today the remains of Anacapa are mostly mined out and reinforced into a seafort for protecting the boneyard from pirates, theres said to be at least 4 squads on watch at all times and a pair of 20mm field guns sancreted into the fort make it a deadly stronghold. Unincorporated Areas *Ovu'ouk, is the third largest settlement on SantaRosae, its a village inhabited by the Teal Vandal tribe, a united clan of over 150 people that is hostile to NCR encroachment. The settlement lies between the mountain tops of old Santa Rosa in the highlands where the palms and frawns of the lowlands grow short and can be removed, were at one point it was a rest stop for people traveling from Hedgeford in the east and Circle Pines in the west during those times it was only a gravel picnic area, fire watch tower and a cinder block restroom, but today there are multiple scrappy huts and tipi that pepper the road to that old rest stop. Inside that cinder block building which resides the "King" on a literal porcelain throne. The village is considered by the NCR to be the linchpin for the island due to its centralized location on a high incline with relative clear sight lines and owning a massive still thats said to contain the ingredients to make 700 gallons of shine as well in addition to a cistern under the rest stop that holds the peoples water supply. For food a selection of razor grain and maize is cultivated and a scant number of plantain trees, the majority of the vandals tribe wanders the island with herds of peccary and a couple of elephants considered to be very dangerous. *Circle Pines, was a prototypical control vault town built before the war to show investors and buyers what life could be like after the apocalypse, the key word is after as it is that the cute suburban bungalows and rise steel shopping centers that the town once had are now charred into steel and plaster shells that are over grown with a toxic variant of the BIG MT. spore locals call "Taint", that is considered to be in the same vain as troglodyte condition or spore sickness in that it devolves the host into a beast with little higher thought. The town hosts a single strip runway with airport, a convenience store 3 apartment buildings in various states of decay and a concrete parking structure, colloquially referred to as the snake pit. It is there that the Razor Men, hideous half-mutants live and prey on travelers to sedate their hunger and perversions. *Last-paradise, an old prewar listening post to detect for incoming communist uboats, it lies in the northern cliff face of Old Santa Rosa covered with greenery and is infested with Terror Bees. Many have tried to map the bunker or to loot it of its rare salvage but all have been swallowed by the hive never to be seen again. Its a common practice for males of the Teal Vandals to try and gather a clump of mosaic honey from this place but it almost always ends in certain doom. *Cross-Roads is a meting place that lies at the very center of the Island in a valley called Cloud-Sin after the mists and ghosts said to wander its paths at dawn and dusk. The site is a break in the old pneumatic rail pipe from vault 2 to vault 7 and is known to periodically flood with infected water from Circle Pines not to mention Razor men that often hide here to ambush unsuspecting travelers, as it is the least forested path to the western side of the island. Lastly there is a massive wooden sign post constantly repainted over as travelers making a way to Ovu'ouk write last will and testaments if they dont come back. Other Islands and Areas of Interest * Barber, used to be known as Santa Barbra Isle was a tiny island centralized in the middle of the archipelago used during the second great war as an outpost for listening for Japanese planes. Now it is a constantly shifting territory between the 3 warring channel cartels and the ncr stationed on Inspiration point. * Santa Clarita, aka Santa Catalina is a medium sized island infamous for its reputation as a smugglers rest with prostitution and gambling in its main town, a prewar city named Avalon. It is here the Cinderella cartel and an ncr adventure capitalist named Wade Jefferson co administer its power as a open sea port. The location is important due to the boneyard coastal fisher fleet. A major partner to the ncr, the city state is granted the same incorporated territory status as outer new vegas and southern cascadia. * Nicksland, A medium sized rocky island home to a world war 2 us airbase, now it functions as a city state apart of the Four Fingers Cartel, second of the 3 warring channel cartel clans using a pseudo monarchy as its government, it was infamous in the pre ncr period as a rampant member of the trans mexican-american slave trade. * San Clemente, a mostly barren plains island claimed by the Lost Urchins Cartel. * Cortez Island, a exposed coral bar and kay, inhabited by Red Pacific Mirelurks. * Sharp-Stone isle, a sister island to cortez island this place was once home to a raider barge city not unlike Libertalia in boston, its been abandoned in recent years due to a rumored behemoth living there named "Stormalong" by the locals that is said to prefer to torture his captives before eating them, if you happen to cross one of the cartel bosses its considered worse than death to be exiled here. Flora and Fauna The isles are fill with dozens of unique animals plants like * Catal Foxes, Small native foxes trained by locals as herding dogs for Peccary * Bar-Berries, Dull purple berries found on the island that have a slightly toxic effect on humans * Spotted Hill Skunks, Large skunk roam the lowland mires eating mirelurk spawn and small rats * Cruz-Clement BigHorner, A cross breed between two native bighorners with shaggy black hair * Guillemot Pigeons, Flightless black pigeons kept and eaten by natives * Great Roc, Birds of prey that hunt lesser lizards and birds * Cave Lions * SantaRosae Eliphantez, cloned cross bred elephants from vault 2 * Mutie Peccary, See Mutant Javelina * Grey Olives, Old world olives invasive to the islands prewar * Giant Reef Kelp, Native large seaweed found around the islands * Australian Brush Tree, Brush trees invasive to the islands prewar * Crush Vines, Large mutant vines known to crush anything around their path * Palm Trees, Common east pacific palms * Red Western Mirelurk, Large multi-legged lobster like mirelurk that crawl about the tidal areas * Terror Bees, Related to African killer bees, following the same mutations as giant ants and Cazadors Cultures Important People Governor Samantha Locheck "Its clear these hill folk have no idea about what exists beyond their little festering world. It can only be our hope that with the help of our friends in the senate we can resurrect a functioning economy here and make these islands expand so everyone in the republic can enjoy this lil' piece of paradise, even if it kills em'! -Governor Locheck Addressing the Military Police aboard the Calypso" Samantha Locheck is a middle aged bureaucrat from the industrial sector of the NCR state of New Reno that used to be in co council with the car salvage plants there, providing so called aide to the workers unions in relation to the families. Unofficially she was notorious for over taxing the workers unions and being remarkably corrupt even for a Reno native having multiple religious minorities sacked for slights against the city government. After a political scandal involving her and a powerful member of the Wrights, Samantha at the age of thirty six was invited into the fold of the then upcoming trade compact that would allow for colonization of the channel islands by both NCR and various Cartel members. Both the water guilds and the elites of the Boneyard's military industrial complex voted for her because of her past life's accomplishments and knowing she would be harsh on the near anarchy of the cartels and islanders alike. Thanks to Locheck, over seven hundred NCR colonists have been able to successfully migrate into the islands since 2265, making the Boneyard a sizable income in gunpowder manufacturing, fruit cultivation and fish canning on the islands of Santa Clarita and Santa Rosae. This progress however is built on the backs of the poor who sign a seven year labor contract with the provisional government when emigrating causing many families fall into debtors camps at Scorpion Ranch Mine or on the multiple plantations in No-Water where they never return from again. Locheck has a very interesting relationship with the famous adventure capitalist Wade Jefferson. Constantly being overlooked by grants from the senate in favor of pricey getaways to Avalon and jealous of Wade's close relationship to the Cartel Bosses whom Locheck and the NCR brass stationed on the islands loathe for their nearly uncontested reliance upon their fleets to keep the fisheries safe and trade flowing. She on four different occasions has tried to get Wade out of the region, be it by falsifying testimony of war profiteering with the Urchins or claiming Wade had sex slaves taken from islander children, either way Locheck's obsession with obtaining the city state of Avalon, and to a lesser extent Nicksland has become the biggest treat to the islands beyond the current Urchin War. In some circles at the right time of night in the fore castle bar you may even hear from off duty MPs that the governor has a picture of him next to her bed on the Calypso, but either way she has a very off kilter relationship with him. Lieutenant Commander Kaber Wiles Kaber Anderson Wiles is the current chief military adviser for the Channel Islands region, holding the rank of Lieutenant Commander. From his early years Wiles was a simple drifter making his money doing odd jobs as a outdoors man in the state of Arroyo living along the trade circuits of the Oregonian tribes and the free towns of the republic. In late 2251 at the age of 24, Wiles joined up with the northern exploratory core, drafted from locals to be guides for further expansion into the north-east and he was given a NCO rank as a experienced scout leading no contact missions for weeks at a time. By the time Wiles turned 27 he had been promoted 4 times to become one of the fastest advancing members in the NCR's military history and was respected as a shrewd commander leading infantry from the front. "I've said it before and I'll say it again, Mr. Wiles has had no serious confrontations with the badlanders, any idea of him being involved with any so called secret 'north pole' operation is simply conjecture and we will no longer be taking questions on this subject" '' -Gregory Dows, Minister of the Militia, Arroyo 2257'' Hard times hit Wiles when in the winter of 2255 he lead his men into a dangerous situation. They had made camp in a small mountain pass said to lead into old Idaho, the misinformation was a trap laid by a tribal war party that opposed all attempts of NCR trail blazing. Out of the 82 men Wiles lead personally through the riven, only 24 walked out alive after 7 weeks of being trapped on that windy cliff face. Afterwards Wiles became reclusive and gave up command in favor of a life in one of the NCR's warmer states of Maxson over seeing brotherhood energy weapon reverse engineering. It was said after the incident which the army calls "the ghost detachment of 55" Wiles did not ever bathe wile on campaign, he would chew on ice cubes until his gums bleed and would be absolutely terrified of Black Yao Guai. In 2266 Wiles was thrust into active service once again by a friend he had made in Maxson saying there was need for a mid-level senior officer to oversee a new colony off the coast of the boneyard that was meant to be quiet and relatively nice. Wiles traded his former frontier whites for a fresh blue tunic from the boneyard emblazoned with his current rank of Lt. Com. Unfortunately only a little over a year later, the pact of the cartels was broken, and Wiles has had to fight a uphill battle against the island pirates ever sense. Blazing Bhoc The horrid warchief we know today as Blazing Bhoc was born onto a small family on the island of SantaRosae, the family whos name is lost to history emigrated there from Nicksland first as sentries for the cartel slave runners but eventually abandoned their obligations and became simple shepherds on the island. Bhoc was taken as a toddler by the Teal Vandals after his father and 2 sisters were killed by lions in the spring of 2240. Even through his family blood was fully mexican and thus the vault dwellers had reservations in taking in one of the people who had kidnapped their kind for over a hundred years, he was generally accepted into life at the moot at Ovu'ouk. Bhoc was never the cleverest member of the tribe, but he more then made up for it with his brute strength. He is among the most influential members of the tribes hierarchy besides Masset the Elder, the current patriarch of the group. Bhoc gained this status by completing the right of manhood that is expected of warriors of the tribe, traditionally a scout must bring back a chunk of wax or honey from the great hive under Last Paradise without dying, Bhoc exceed expectations by bringing back a whole egg from the deepest reach of the bunker, reportedly (legendarily) by killing 7 terror bees with his bare hands. This act of ferocity lead to him being crowned a demigod of the people of the island whos word is always heeded. After initial contact with the NCR had soured, Masset and Bhoc declared a jihad on the colonists and the cartels alike based on the original vault tec documents the tribe had kept from vault 2 & 7 stating the islands were there property of the vault inhabitants following the apocalypse. Reports from NCR scouts and survivors of his raids suggest he may have slight FEV mutations from his constant wars against the Razormen of the islands abandoned east jungle, this is substantiated by Vandals insistence that he himself is impotent. Militarily Kaber Wiles has stated that the only way to ensure peace on the island is if Bhoc dies, but due to his kinds nomadic nature, this end has yet to be reached. Category:Places Category:Region Category:New California Republic